The Arizona women’s tennis team lost its two matches against No. 7 UCLA 7-0 (17-5, 6-1 Pacific 10 Conference) and No. 10 USC 6-1 (17-6, 5-2) this weekend, dropping the Wildcats to 7-16 overall and 0-7 in conference play.
USC came out strong by winning on all three of the doubles courts at home Saturday.
The closest of duo matches was held on court No. 2, when Lindsey Nelson and Lyndsay Kinstler of USC defeated the UA’s Katie Orletsky and Jane Huh by a score of 7-6.
With the doubles point in the Trojans’ hands, the Wildcats couldn’t pick themselves up off the ground.
“”I tried to make more balls, but I just didn’t play that well,”” said Orletsky, a sophomore. “”Everyone was trying to be in the match and do the right things, but we didn’t execute as well as we needed to.””
The sole point for the team was when No. 38 Danielle Steinberg defeated No. 50 Lindsey Nelson in singles play on court No. 1, 6-0 and 6-2.
The Wildcats’ fight Friday had a bad start when they gave the Bruins the first point by losing each of the doubles matches.
As the squad headed into singles, its day only got worse. UCLA won on every court; the closest match was on the No. 1 court when No. 11 Riza Zalameda defeated Steinberg by a score of 6-2, 7-6(4).
“”I thought we were out there trying, but (UCLA and USC) are really good teams – they were just tough,”” Orletsky said.
Close loss to UCLA for men’s tennis
The Arizona men’s tennis team was defeated by No. 5 UCLA (19-1, 6-0 Pacific 10 Confernece) 5-2 and No. 6 USC (19-3, 6-0) 7-0 this weekend.
Throughout Arizona’s match against USC, there was little room for question as to who would win.
“”They came out really fired up from the beginning in doubles,”” said UA sophomore Pat Metham. “”And they had a take-no-prisoners mentality, which made it really tough to compete against.””
In contrast to Saturday’s match, the previous day’s competition against UCLA was a nail-biter; the Wildcats gave the Bruins a run for their money.
“”I think that UCLA was a good match up for us,”” Metham said. “”They came out a little complacent and I think we could have used that to our advantage more. That was a tough one to lose.””
The Wildcats came out strong against the Bruins, easily winning the doubles point. Senior Claudio Christen and Metham defeated senior Mathieu Dehaine and freshman Holden Seguso on court No. 2 by a score of 8-3. UA freshman Andy Carrasco and junior Peter Zimmer beat senior Jeremy Drean and junior Michael Look 8-5 on court No. 3, placing the Wildcats in the lead.
In singles, Carrasco won the first match, but the hungry Bruins took the next three.
With the score of 2-3 in UCLA’s favor, all the attention turned to the remaining sets of Zimmer on court No. 5 and sophomore Ravid Hazi on court No. 6.
Despite his effort, Hazi lost to freshman Nick Meister 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, giving UCLA another win to add to its abundant collection.
“”We gave 100 percent, but UCLA handled the pressure better than us,”” Carrasco said. “”That’s why they are No. 5 in the country.””
